VANCOUVER – The head of British Columbia Conservatives says he’s resigning as leader due to family and business responsibilities.
Dan Brooks was elected leader on April 12, 2014, taking over from John Cummins after the party’s disappointing finish in the 2013 provincial election.
Brooks says it has been an honour to serve, but the leadership is a volunteer position and he has a business and a family to support.
His business, a tourism resort in north-central B.C., means Brooks is an absentee leader for much of the summer, and he says members want somebody who is more active.
The B.C. Conservatives garnered 4.8 per cent of the popular vote during the 2013 provincial election and failed to win a seat.
Brooks says he will serve as interim leader until the party’s annual general meeting in Richmond on Feb. 20.
“My own financial situation doesn’t allow me to be a volunteer leader any longer,” he says.
“I simply can’t be the leader that the party needs in order to be competitive in 2017 because my time at my business takes me away from that. So I think I made the right choice for the party, so that the party can find new leadership and find that person who can fill that role that I wasn’t able to.”
The party’s website says Brooks and his wife Ellen are parents to seven girls.
The next general election in the province has been scheduled for May 9, 2017.
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